Information about Bazna pigs

In Romania there were two breeds of pigs traditionally bred in the households of locals back in the last century. Unfortunately, these breeds are almost completely forgotten, despite their high potential for obtaining traditional food products. One of the breeds is the Mangalita, with its red and blond varieties <unfortunately, the black variety and the "swallow-belly" variety have completely disappeared from us> and the other is Bazna, or the Bazna pig, as it is cited in the specialty literature. Let us not forget that the recipe of "Sibiu salami" is created especially of meat from these breeds. A marbled meat, with intramuscular fat, not with meat with added fat, as it is processed nowadays. Surprisingly enough, in our country nobody is interested in these breeds anymore, even if in other countries from the European Community there is a real demand for this meat. For instance, for the production of the famous "Serano ham", they use a meat from pigs that are very similar with the Mangalita pigs, and this meat has a very high price on market. In Hungary for instance, there is a real industry for the production of this meat which is later exported, and the economical results of the farmers that breed Mangalita pigs are quite good. Unfortunately, in our country, where there is a genetic conservation nucleus for the two breeds, from where reproduction animals with known origin can be purchased <that is also by SAPARD programs>, nobody is interested in them. Even the Romanian Academy intends to withdraw the funds for the maintenance of this nucleus. On the other hand, buyers from Hungary come, or even from England, that request such animals. There are funds from the European Community for programs that intend to maintain the biodiversity by the revival of these breeds, but nobody is interested in using them. There is a lot more to say about these breeds and their growth potential, but I stop here, not before mentioning another quality of the meat production obtained from these pigs. The hypodermic fat <bacon> and the intramuscular fat obtained from the Mangalita pigs bred traditionally has a lower level of "bad" cholesterol than the vegetal fats.

The Bazna pig is bred presently in his traditional area, around Sibiu area, but also in Cluj county, this fact being the result of the existence of a selection and genetic conservation nucleus in the area in the past 60 years, at first at the Experimental Zoo-technical Station of Jucu (Cluj county), and presently at the Agricultural Research Station of (Cluj county).